The Star's Fault
by Starkidtheatregeek
Summary: Breredith. During Starship, Brian and Meredith are trying to find ways to each other, not knowing of the other's intentions, but obstacles keep arising, such as an overly clingy girlfriend who won't let go. Rate T because I'm paranoid.
1. You had my heart inside of your hand

_Don't look, don't look, you cannot look, you must not look. _Against all of his basic instincts, Brian looked anyways, his heart contracting in pain. Dylan pulled Meredith close and kissed her. _No, it's not Dylan, it's Tootsie Noodles kissing Megagirl. _Dylan carried her offstage, and Brian hid in the shadows, not wanting to be seen. He tried not to see Meredith's smile, or her leaning on his chest.

Denise came up behind him and put her hand on his back. Brian jumped, not expecting it, "You ok sweetie?" she asked, planting a kiss on his lips.

"I'm fine," he lied, in truth he was anything but fine. The girl he loved was with Dylan, and he was with Denise, how did it end up like this? Denise was an amazing friend, but he didn't want to take it any further. He had been hoping for a reaction from Meredith when he said yes, but Meredith and Dylan came out with their relationship the next day.

Denise leaned in, "I don't think you are, maybe this will help," and kissed him passionately. He returned it, only putting in a bit of effort.

—-

Meredith saw Denise and Brian kissing, and looked the other way. It was painful, but she tried to push through it, she was with Dylan right now. Denise had told her after rehearsal the day she asked him out and he had said yes. Dylan had asked her out a while ago, and she finally said yes.

He had told the group the next day, much to her displeasure. She caught his look of shock and hurt before he plastered on a smile. Denise leaned over and whispered something to him, and pulled him in for a kiss. The rest of the group saw her gaze and the wolf-whistles started.

Since that day, Meredith and Brian hadn't spoken except for during their scenes together in Starship.

Her next cue came, and she ignored the fact that this was her scene with Brian. The scene progressed, and she was relieved to finally get offstage. Jaime confronted her, "Are you ok? You're getting a little shaky out there."

Meredith shook her head, "I don't know if I'm ok or not at this point! The world just seems to be falling to shit right now! Can I tell you after the show?"

"Yeah, because my cue is coming up," she replied.

The show was agony, but when it was finally done, Meredith ran to the dressing room to get out of her costume so she could leave. After handing the costume to June, she went out to greet the fans, she ran into Brian on the way out.

"Good show tonight," he said stiffly.

"You too," she replied, and sped up, not looking at him. She got out to the fans, and was greeted by cheers. She started walking around, talking to them and getting pictures with some others, when one fan asked, "Can I get a picture with you and Brian Holden together?"

She couldn't really say no, just because it was a fan, "Yo! B-Hol! Get over here!"

Brian looked up in shock from the shirt he was signing, Meredith hadn't called him that since she and Dylan had started dating. He finished the autograph and walked over to the source of the noise, "Yeah?"

"She wants us to take a picture together," Meredith said, trying to act as though they hadn't spoken in a couple weeks.

Brian looked at the hopeful fan, "What do you want us to do?"

The fan looked around uncomfortably, "Kiss," she mumbled.

"Well, that is out of the question, but we could do something close," Dylan said. All of the Starkids had congregated when they heard Meredith yell for Brian.

"Huddle," Lauren said.

Everyone got in a huddle, except the fan, and Lauren said, "I think that they should go for it, but then everyone else grabs them and keeps them apart." The group nodded in assent, "Break!" Lauren shouted.

Brian and Meredith started to go for it, and everyone else started pulling on them. The fan was cracking up, but took the picture and thanked them, and left. Brian and Meredith looked at each other and then went opposite directions.

Jaime and Joey looked at each other and went after the two.

—-

"Meredith!" Jaime yelled after her, running down the street the direction she went, "Mere! I need to talk to you!"

Meredith slowed down when she was about two blocks away from where she had almost kissed Brian, "What?" she demanded of Jaime, who was running towards her.

"You know very well what I want!" Jaime said, gasping for breath. When she had regained her breath, she asked, "What happened back there? You and Bri were actually trying to reach each other."

"So? Wasn't that the point?" Meredith asked, trying to sound innocent.

"No! The point was for it to look like it, not for it to actually happen!" when Meredith didn't answer, Jaime asked, more gently, "You're not over him are you?"

Meredith shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes, "No, I haven't ever been over him, Dylan was a big mistake."

Someone stepped out of the shadows, "Is that all I ever am? A mistake? I can never be a friend, just a mistake!"

"Dylan," Meredith gasped, "No, no, no! Of course you're a friend! You're an amazing friend! I just meant I shouldn't have done this to you!"

"Shouldn't have, but you did! You played with my heart Meredith! I'm not just the guy that sings, you know, I actually have feelings!"

"I know Dylan! Believe me! Please!" Meredith sobbed.

"I can't do this anymore Meredith, I need someone who will pay more attention to me then the guy she hasn't spoken to for months!" Dylan yelled, running off.


	2. But you played it to the beat

**Hi guys, thanks for all of the reviews! I finished the next chapter, but it's probably really crappy because I wrote most of it at like 3:30 in the morning on a couple different occasions. I'll try to get a new chapter up every week, but no promises, online World History is a bitch. And I need to tell you I'm sorry in advance.**

* * *

As soon as Brian was out of sight, he started running, where to, he didn't care. It wasn't fair, it kept being thrown in his face that he was with the wrong girl. And the look that Meredith had given him afterwards had been enough to throw him over the edge, it had been one of disgust, like she hated him. He heard someone approaching from behind, and sped up, not wanting to be confronted.

"Brian! C'mon man, I'm tired, stop making me run!" he heard Joey yell.

After he got a couple more buildings down, he turned down a side street and stopped, "What do you want?"

Joey stopped, panting, "What the hell, man?" he finally managed to wheeze, "Why did you run off like that?"

"Didn't you see Meredith? She hates me!" Brian yelled, frustrated at the world.

"What do you mean?" Joey panted, still trying to recover.

"After the fan took the picture, Meredith looked at me like I disgusted her, how do you think that's supposed to make a guy feel?" Brian said, the volume of his voice escalating.

Joey took a second before he replied, "Well, you know, she is with Dylan, and you're with Denise, and you were actually trying to get to her, maybe she wasn't thrilled about that."

Brian sighed, he saw Joey's point, "Yeah, are you sure that she likes Dylan?" he asked for the hundredth time.

It was Joey's turn to sigh, "Man, I've been over this a hundred times, no, I'm not sure that she likes him, but he likes her, so I'm not going to mess with it, and anyways, she seems happy enough to be with him. And you need to remember, you're with Denise."

"Crap, Denise."

"Yeah, man, you better be glad she was on Meredith's side, otherwise she would have felt how hard you were trying to get to Mere," Joey said.

"How about Dylan? Was he on my side?"

"Yeah, he was" Joey admitted.

Suddenly, the echo of someone's running feet came down the street, "Holden! You better get over here now, you little bastard!"

"Shit, is that Dylan?" Brian asked nervously.

Joey nodded slowly, "Yeah, I think so. You know what I would do?"

"What?"

"Find a TARDIS."

"Be serious."

"Run! I'll distract him!"

Brian started sprinting down the street, keeping track of where he was turning so he would be able to get back to his car. Dylan was going to be pissed at him for trying to make a move on his girl, but not as pissed as Denise would be if she found out.

Joey waited for Dylan, "Dylan, wait, I don't know where Brian is!"

Dylan stopped, "And how do I know I can trust you?"

Joey shrugged in reply. Then he noticed something was off with Dylan, "What's the matter, bro?"

"Meredith."

Joey groaned internally, he would have to have a chat with her and tell her to stop drawing guys in, "Why? What's wrong?"

"She's in love with Brian, still, apparently."

"Really?" Joey asked, not knowing quite what to think.

"And you felt the way Brian was going for her, what if they've been having an affair behind my back?" Dylan said.

"Stop and think about what you just said right there, do you think that Brian would cheat on any girlfriend of his?"

Dylan sighed, "Oh, right, Denise."

"Yeah, right, Denise, even though he might like Meredith, he's still going out with Denise, and I just can't see him cheating on her," Joey reasoned.

"You're right, Joey," Dylan mumbled, "I was being ridiculous because Mere broke up with me."

"Why did she break up with you?"

"Brian."

"Right," Joey said, encouraging him to go on.

"But I guess he doesn't know about that, does he?"

"No, he thinks Meredith hates him at the moment."

* * *

Meredith headed back towards the theater with a fake smile plastered on her face, she was glad tonight was the last night of the show. Looking around, she didn't see Brian or Dylan anywhere, so she got in her car and left. No sooner had she gotten three blocks away than she burst into tears. She had just screwed everything up, she had admitted she still loved Brian, only for Dylan to hear, and now he was pissed off at her, and Brian was probably pissed off at her too for trying to kiss him while he was in a relationship! The world was just falling to shit.

She managed to keep it together enough to get to her apartment without crashing. As soon as she got into her apartment, she locked the door, turned her phone on silent, and put in "The Notebook" because she needed an excuse to cry. When the movie ended, she picked up her phone and saw some texts from Jaime, they were all along the lines of, "Are you ok? Why aren't you answering?" she replied a quick, "I'm fine, I was just watching a movie," and put her phone down.

Well, that is, until she saw a message from Brian pop up on the screen, "Hey, I heard about Dylan, are you ok?" Why did people keep asking if she was ok? She obviously wasn't, but she did feel a bit better now that Brian had texted her, maybe he didn't hate her. But he obviously did, otherwise he would be over here right now trying to cheer her up, so she didn't answer.

* * *

"Jaime, if she's not mad at me, why won't she text me back?" Brian asked Jaime at the dinner the cast was having.

"I don't know, Bri, she was watching a movie when she last answered me, but she hasn't answered for a while, so I don't know, I'm sorry," Jaime said, her heart breaking a bit as she saw Brian's face fall. In truth, she hadn't gotten over him when she broke up with him in college. She had seen the way he looked at Meredith, and knew that he didn't look at her that way, so it had been time to end it before she got her hopes up, and it was killing her now.

Denise sidled over, "Hey babe, why are you so down today?" she asked Brian.

"I dunno, D, I don't know," he replied sullenly.

"Maybe this will help," Denise leaned in and kissed him, her back to Jaime. Jaime noticed that Brian's eyes were open, and looking at her a little desperately. She cleared her throat, when that didn't work, she cleared it again, louder. Denise pulled away from Brian, and turned to Jaime, "Yes?"

"Sorry, he was just telling me how he had to go take a shit, and I didn't want you to have to go through him shitting his pants while kissing you," she made up out of thin air.

Denise sighed, "Ok, fine," and let him go. Brian looked at Jaime gratefully. Denise took Brian's place, "Jaime, I need to break up with Brian."

Jaime was startled, "Why?"

"Well, I was comforting Dylan, and we ended up making out, and I really fireworks with him," she explained.

"Well, why can't you break up with Bri?"

"Because he's just so sad."

"I'm sad?" Brian asked, having returned from his "bathroom break."

Denise's eyes widened, "Um, no, someone else named Brian is!"

"How long have I been 'sad'? A day? A week? How bout a month? Denise opened her mouth, but no sound came out. "That's what I thought, you never really cared about me. C'mon Jaime, let's leave," he dragged Jaime out of the restaurant, leaving a Denise on the verge of tears, a room full of very confused Starkids, and a Jaime with her heart in her throat.

* * *

**So, tell me what ya'll think! Reviews are welcome! And I'm sorry, that was really angsty.**


	3. Where Were You?

**A/N Hey guys! This is a pretty intense chapter, even if it is pretty short, and I just wanna say that they would never do this, I understand that, and this is fiction. I've started doing song of the chapter on another fic, it's a Harry Potter fic called, Surrounded by People, but all Alone. It 's a next generation fic, starring an OC of mine, I would love you if you just read it, you don't even have to review it, reading it is enough.**

**Here ya go. Also, I'm so sorry...**

**P.S I'm re-uploading this because of a pretty major mistake I made, it was just a name so you don't have to read it again, but this is why I should proof read.**

* * *

_"You Found Me"_

_by, _

_The Fray_

_"In the end,  
Everyone ends up alone  
Losing her,  
The only one who's ever known  
Who I am, who I'm not,and who I wanna be  
No way to know  
How long she will be next to me"_

* * *

Meredith's phone buzzed again, and she looked at it, it was from Denise, "What the hell could she want from me? She's already got Brian, what the hell else can she take from me?" and threw it across the room. She put in another depressing movie, and remembered that there was a cheesecake in her refrigerator that she was saving for the after party.

She got up and got the cheesecake and got a pretty big slice from it and put it on a plate. The movie started playing, and she went and sat down on the couch, wrapping a blanket around herself. Someone knocked on her door, and she stood up, groaning. It was very obvious she had been crying, and her hair was a wreck, but she opened the door anyways, it was Julia.

"Juls," she groaned, "What are you doing here?"

Julia walked in without being invited, "Checking on you," she said briskly, "Yup, sad movie, cheesecake, blanket, red eyes," she noted, "Either you've been dumped, or Brian did something to you."

Tears started streaming down Meredith's face again, and she didn't even care, "Brian hates me, and so does Dylan, and so does Denise."

"And how do you know that?"

"The way Brian looked at me after that picture, and Dylan broke up with me because he heard me say I still love Brian, and Denise, I was actually trying to kiss her boyfriend! All of them hate me!" Meredith wailed.

Julia sighed, "Mere, sit down," when Meredith followed instructions, Julia went on, "Denise and Dylan don't hate you, they've actually started dating."

Meredith looked up, "Denise is cheating on Bri?"

"No, they broke up."

Meredith's heart got considerably lighter, "They what?"

Julia smiled, "She texted you about it, didn't you get it?"

Meredith stood up and walked in the direction she threw her phone and found it, turned off. She turned it back on, and read the message that Denise had sent her an hour before, "Brian and I broke up, he's all yours."

She looked at Julia disbelievingly, "so you're not giving me shit?"

"No, why would I do that to you?" Julia chuckled.

"I dunno, it just seems everyone around me has been giving me shit lately," Meredith shrugged. She got an alert from Facebook on her phone, telling her Brian had posted, it was his changed relationship status, but instead of saying single, it said, "In relationship with Jaime Lyn Beatty." She made a distressed sound, "Juls."

"What?" Meredith handed her the phone, and Julia looked at it for a moment, obviously confused, then said, "Well, that wasn't supposed to happen."

Brian took Jaime to the first place he could think of, his apartment. He was hurt that Denise had been dating him out of pity, at least he had been dating her to see if he could like her like that. He took out his hurt feelings on Jaime, although not in the way he would if he had brought a guy friend. Pulling her close, he started to kiss her, not even thinking about it.

He felt Jaime tense up at first, unsure of what was going on, but then let go of her worries and kiss him back. In the back of his mind, he knew this was wrong, he knew that in the end, they were going to want different things. He felt the passion she was kissing him back with, and if that's what she felt, then it was because he was using all of his other emotions to make up for love.

Pushing her up against the now-closed-door, he deepened the kiss, his tongue exploring her mouth once again. Her hand went up his shit, starting to pull it up, he allowed her to pull it off, and started unbuttoning her shirt. As soon as it was discarded on the floor, he pulled her over to the couch, lying her down and kissing her more fiercely.

About an hour later, Brian and Jaime laid on the couch and coffee table respectively. Brian knew he had done a bad thing, but he didn't regret it, it had almost made him forget the pain in his chest. He stood up, "I have to pee, be right back."

Jaime smiled, and waited until he got out of the room, and picked up his phone. She played around on his Facebook, and changed his relationship status to her instead of Denise, but didn't post it, just leaving it there to see what it looked like. When Brian came back in, she dropped it, and pulled her knees up to her chest. She noticed Brian was already dressed, "What's the matter?"

"Jaims, I did a bad thing just now, and I shouldn't have done it, and I really don't wanna hurt your feelings," he rushed out.

Jaime felt her heart sink, it had almost felt as though it were real, but she should've known better. Blinking tears out of her eyes, she started to pull on clothes, looking anywhere but Brian.

When she walked towards the door, she said softly, "It's ok, Bri, I know you love Mere."

"I really am sorry Jaime," he called after her, and shut the door. He picked up his phone, and saw that he had quite a few notifications, all of them for his relationship status, huh, that was weird, he had never updated that.

Clicking on the first notification for it, he noticed that it was Meredith commenting, and then, he noticed that it said he was in a relationship with Jaime. He changed it to single, and ran after Jaime, yelling her name.

Meredith commented, "Well, that was unexpected" and turned off her phone. She turned to Julia, and started sobbing, "I thought that I might actually get to have him for once!"


	4. My Heart is on My Sleeve

**A/N: Hey! I'm rewarding you with the next chapter because of the confusion I had with editing the last chapter. You don't have to read it, nothing changed except for a name, I promise! Thank you for all the reviews and story alerts and favorites! You guys are seriously the best! Especially FilinoFang you made my day! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own these wonderful people, just the story line, which is entirely fictional. Oh yeah, and I also have a quote in there from OMG, Jaime says it.**

* * *

_The Way I Loved You_

_by_

_Selena Gomez_

_"Everything's cool, yeah_

_It's all gonna be ok, yeah_

_And I know, maybe I'll even laugh about it someday,_

_But not today, no_

_Cause I don't feel so good,_

_I'm tangled up inside_

_And my heart is on my sleeve,_

_Tomorrow is a mystery to me._

* * *

Brian ran after Jaime, still yelling her name, "Jaime! Jaime! Jaime! I need you to stop! Jaime! Jaime! Jaaaaiiiimeee!" Finally, he finished going down the stairs and saw her, "Jaime! Stop! Come here!"

Jaime turned, and yelled back at him tearfully, "What else could you want from me Brian?"

"To know why you changed my fucking relationship status on Facebook!" he yelled back angrily, still running to get to her.

"What? I did not!" she replied, aghast that he would say that.

"Then what the hell is this?" he demanded, shoving the phone into her hand.

"You deleted it," she said slowly, not quite understanding what the issue was.

Brian sighed, "Yeah, but not before people saw it! _Meredith _saw it! And now she thinks we're together!"

Jaime's eyes widened, finally understanding the gravity of what she had done, "Brian! I'm so sorry!" she gasped.

"You sure as hell better be!" he yelled, still frustrated.

"Look, I'll try to fix this!" she said desperately.

"And how are you going to do that?" he said, defeated.

"I don't know! I can go talk to Meredith?"

"Like that'll work. She already wouldn't answer any of my texts before this mess started, and now you're involved, she really won't answer texts."

"I don't know, but I'll fix this, I promise!" she said, and started running off towards Meredith's apartment.

777

Julia didn't know what to do, she had never seen Meredith this heartbroken. Sure, Lauren had been in this position plenty of times, as well as Jaime, hell, even some of the guys came to her when they were heartbroken, but nothing compared to this. Meredith was sobbing uncontrollably, not even caring that Julia and Lauren where there.

Lauren had seen the status update, and come straight up; knowing Meredith wouldn't take it well. "Juls, what do we do? This is like the worst case of heartbreak I've ever seen!"

"I don't know," Julia sighed, "Even your worst breakup wasn't this bad, and this isn't even a breakup!"

Lauren looked at Meredith, very concerned, "She's normally so happy! Is this what happens when she gets sad?"

"I guess so, I've never seen her not happy," Julia said.

"I don't think anyone has," Lauren mumbled.

Suddenly, they heard frantic knocking on the door, "Let me in!"

"Jaime?" Julia asked, her eyes wide.

Meredith looked up, and said forcefully, with hatred dripping from her voice, "Don't let that bitch in!"

Lauren and Julia looked at each other, shocked, "Uh, Jaimes, I think we're gonna meet you out there," Lauren said. The two left the apartment, and saw Jaime leaned up against the wall and looked at her expectantly.

"I'm sure you two wanna know why I'm here," she sighed.

"No, we wanted to invite you in for tea," Lauren said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I get it, what I did was stupid, I already had Brian to tell me that!" Jaime said, the volume of her voice escalating at an alarming rate.

"Woah, woah, woah, woah, what do you mean, Brian told you what you did was stupid? He's the one who updated his status!" Julia said.

"No, he didn't, I did, on accident! I swear to Dead God I didn't mean to!"

"Why did you do it, though?" Lauren said testily.

Jaime shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably, "Well, um, we kinda did it," she mumbled, "and you know I still like him, right? So, I just wanted to see how it looked, but I guess I must have accidentally pressed the button."

Lauren's eyes widened, "You did it?" she shrieked.

"Yes!" Jaime said miserably, "I know we shouldn't have, but he was just feeling so many emotions, and I dunno, it just sort of happened. And then Brian made me leave, and I did, because he knew what we did was wrong, and he feels really bad about it, and I do too, now."

"Do you mean you didn't feel bad about it before?"

"Yeah, it felt really good to me, I wasn't really thinking about Meredith, just me, I guess. That sounds really selfish, I know, but I kinda wanted to be Brian's again," Jaime admitted. It felt good to finally get that off of her chest, even though now was a really bad time for it to happen.

"Jaime, that is the most selfish thing I have ever heard you say!" Lauren told her, "Now, I'm going in to check on Meredith."

Julia waited for Lauren to shut the door to continue, "Jaime, I know how it feels, believe me, I know, but you really need to get over Brian. It's going to be hard, I know, but he loves Meredith, I know it hurts you, but you are a strong girl."

"I know," she said softly, "It's just hard, you know? To love someone so much, but to not have them love you back, it hurts, you know?"

"I know Jaimes," she said, enveloping her in a hug.

777

Meredith heard Lauren yell that they did it, and couldn't take anymore, so she opened the window and escaped the building using the fire escape. She started running down the street, to where, she didn't know, but as far away from Jaime and Brian as possible. Unfortunately, Brian was who she normally went to when she needed comforting, so her feet automatically took her to his apartment building.

He was sitting on the curb outside of the building when she ran up, and stood up, "Mere?"

Meredith saw Brian stand up, "Fuck," she said, knowing that she couldn't turn around now, it would make her look like she was afraid of the truth.

"Mere, I know you saw the status-" he began.

"You're right I did!" she yelled, "How could you do that to me? You were my best fucking friend! First you go off and date everyone who's not me! And then as soon as we are both single, you go off and start dating Jaime! You had fucking sex with her, Brian! I thought maybe at last I could have a chance with you! But no! Of course not! I have to go and have my heart shattered all over my fucking floor when I find out you and Jaime are going out! And then she had the nerve to come to my home! Do you not know how much that hurt me, Bri?"

Brian finally found a place to cut in, "Yes! I do know how much that hurts Mere! You know why I was with Denise? To see if I could date a girl who wasn't you! It didn't work out, though! Every fucking time I saw you with Dylan, it felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest! I've had to go through you dating everyone who wasn't me as well! And then the show, every time you and Dyl had to kiss in front of me, and then you would come backstage and continue! How do you think that made me feel?"

"You and Denise were just as bad! Making out backstage like you did! I'm surprised the audience didn't hear!"

"Well the audience did see you and Dylan!"

"You had sex with Jaime!"

"Denise was using me! She was only with me because she felt bad for me! I needed to let off some steam!"

"You could have come to my place!"

"I thought you hated me!"

"Why the hell would I hate you?"

"Because I tried to kiss you when you were with Denise!"

"I was trying to kiss you! I thought you hated me!"

The voices that had risen to screaming level were slowly quieting when they realized the other one didn't hate them. Then they realized their faces were mere millimeters apart.

"Dylan broke up with me," Meredith said simply.

"Denise broke up with me," Brian answered.

The two leaned forward and kissed each other finally, feeling the sparks that they had been yearning for. They shared their first kiss in the rain, never wanting to let go of the other.

* * *

**There will be more! I promise! More drama, I'm sure! I'm going to be honest with you, I have no idea what is going to happen, but I am always up for ideas! Please review! **


	5. Runaway

**A/N Hey guys! I'm back! And this chapter doesn't start with an apology! Yay! Actually, wait, yes it does. I'm so sorry guys, I just put you through hell and back with this story. And that's not even for long spaces between updates... **

**And per an anons' request, this chapter has some LaurWalk in it! Well, at least half of LaurWalk...**

**Umm, yeah...I couldn't think of a song for this chapter, so if any of you have any ideas for one, I will get that in there! **

* * *

Julia walked back into Meredith's apartment, and didn't see her anywhere. She checked all over the apartment for her, and still couldn't find her, then she noticed that the window was open. Running over, she yelled, "Laur! Meredith's gone!" She looked out the window, and saw Meredith running in the direction of Brian's house.

Lauren ran in, Jaime following hot on her tail, and they stopped next to Julia, following her suit and looking down towards the street. They saw Meredith running, and realized she was running towards Brian's house.

Julia was the first to break the silence, "Do you think we should let her go to Brian?"

Jaime nodded, "Probably would be the best thing for her, because she won't listen to me."

"She'll find out the truth from him instead of someone else, which will end up being a good thing in the long run. And I think they'll both be able to rant to each other about how Meredith isn't the only one who's gone through pain because of the other," Lauren agreed.

Julia nodded slowly, thinking over what the others had said, and saw the sense in their words, "Ok, so we let her go, what happens if it doesn't work out as planned?"

"Stop being a pessimist, Juls," Lauren said, exasperated, "If that happens, we'll figure out what to do when it happens." She crossed the room and sat down on the couch that Meredith had previously occupied.

Jaime followed. "This is all my fault," she groaned into her hands.

Lauren wrapped her small arm around her comfortingly, "If it helps, it's also Dylan and Denise's fault as well."

"Speaking of Dylan and Denise, did you notice how they got more applause then everyone else at curtain calls tonight?" Julia spoke up. The other two thought back and realized it was true, and tried to think of why that would be. "The star's fault," Julia mused.

777

Joe, Joe, Dylan, Joey, Jim, and Brant were gathered around the TV in the living room at Starkid Manor, laughing over something Jim had just said.

"Hey, Walker," Moses laughed, "What was that after 'Get Back Up?' You totes kissed Laur's back!"

Walker blushed at the thought, it had been an instinctive move, and was pretty rash, but he didn't regret it. Although he would never admit it to the guys, he had had a crush on Lauren for years, but he knew she didn't return his feelings. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind and answered JoMo, "Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, don't ya think it'll be obvious you like her now?" he slurred, taking another drink of beer.

Joey looked at him reproachfully, as did Dylan, "Man, remember when we said we were gonna wait and see how long it took him to realize that we know?" Joey asked.

"Oops," Moses giggled.

"Yeah, well, you kinda managed to break that streak."

"Wait, what's going on?" Walked asked, very confused.

"Dude, you are like the most oblivious person I've ever seen," Brant chimed in, "I noticed it as soon as I walked into the first rehearsal!"

"Yeah, the first question he asked me was how long you two had been going out for!" Moses snorted.

"Well how long have you known?" Walker demanded.

"Remember that time you rehearsed some stuff for Me and My Dick with Laur?" Joey asked, Walker nodded, that day had been fun. "Then," Joey finished.

"But, I didn't even know then!" he protested.

"Well, then I'm always just a couple steps ahead of you, aren't I?" Joey said smugly.

Dylan spoke for the first time in a while, "Guys, check FaceBook."

777

Brian and Meredith finally broke apart, soaking wet. They rested their foreheads against each other. "Mere," Brian breathed, not really wanting to break the silence, "Do you know how long I've wanted to do that?"

"Not as long as I have," she breathed back just as quietly. They sunk to the curb a while later, content to just be there with each other. A few minutes later, Brian's eyes widened, and he whispered to Meredith, "Go into the building, I'll be there in a few minutes." Meredith started to ask why, but Brian just quieted her. "Go, please?" he said pleadingly. She complied, seeing the slightly desperate look in his eyes, and knowing something was wrong.

She stood up, and walked as naturally as possible to the building, she had no idea what was going on, but she knew it wasn't good. Walking into the familiar front door of Starkid Manor, she called out, "Hello?" to whoever was there.

The boys heard Meredith come in, and hurried over to her, no sure if she was ok. They made that clear, acting as the protective older brothers. "Guys, I'm fine! Why wouldn't I be?" she finally asked.

Joey arched his eyebrow, and pulled out his phone, pulling up FaceBook. Meredith finally understood, "Guys, that was just a misunderstanding! We're better now!"

Joe Moses walked stumbled around the corner, having heard everything, the accusing tones, and then the more relieved ones, as well as Meredith's voice. He scanned the group for Brian, about to let him have it, when he realized he wasn't there. "Where's Brian?" he slurred.

Meredith turned, realizing that he hadn't come in yet. She opened the front door and walked onto the porch, looking over to where she had left him. When she saw what was happening, she screamed, and started running towards him, but was caught in Joe Walker's strong arms. She screamed his name over and over again, and when Joe Moses finally saw what was happening, and white van was driving away, and Brian was nowhere in sight.

* * *

**Yeah, I'm gonna update soon, I have the next chapter mostly written, but it's not finished...**

**Hugs and butterfly kisses,**

**Sarah**


	6. Breaking

**A/N Hey guys! I'm baack! Ya'll should be scared. I feel like the beginning of this chapter is pretty amazing and emotional, but the end is shit. I just got back from a camp and I'm sick and I feel like I might actually pass out. Anything that happens in this story is purely fictional, it came from my sick, twisted imagination and no one should think that this actually happened. Umm, as always, I apologize in advance.**

* * *

Julia, Jaime and Lauren sat on Meredith's couch, watching Tangled. Julia was watching carefully, there was something about this movie that had been bothering her, but she couldn't figure out what. When Flynn raised one eyebrow and smirked, she figured out what it was, "Joey!" she yelled.

The other two turned to look at her, confused. "What about Joey?" Lauren asked.

"In that last scene, when February kissed Bug, Joey's face looked like Flynn's!" Julia said excitedly.

"You are soo right!" Jaime agreed.

"Speaking of Joey," Lauren said mischievously, "Have you seen the way he looks at you?" she asked Jaime.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm gonna take that as a no," Lauren mumbled. "But seriously, he looks at you all longingly and stuff! I think he has a crush on you!"

"Joey? Joey Richter? The same one who I managed to get an entire musical love story written about us to see if he would realize my feelings for him, but then went out with someone else from the cast, forcing me to move on and fall in love with Brian? That Joey?" Jaime asked incredulously. She had gotten over Joey a long time ago, and hadn't thought back on those feelings once.

Lauren shrugged, "I think he got the message the musical was broadcasting."

Jaime turned back to the movie, thinking. It was true she had been falling for Joey Richter in college, but she was almost certain she had gotten over that when she started going out with Brian. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that those feelings were still there, and the feelings she had had for Brian were just a way for her to protect herself to getting hurt by Joey.

All of the girls' phones went off at the same time. Jaime picked hers up, it was from Joey, _"Get to the Manor, I'll explain when you get here, it's urgent." _ She stood up, "I have a car, I'm gonna go, see ya in a bit."

Julia and Lauren looked at her, confused, they hadn't looked at their phones yet, but Jaime was already on her way out of the door. Shrugging, Lauren turned back to the movie, but Julia checked her phone. She had a text from Nick, _"There's an urgent situation at the Manor, you need to get over here." _Julia gasped, but could already almost put a finger on what was wrong, Brian normally told her about problems.

Lauren finally picked up her phone when Julia stood up and grabbed her purse. She had a text from Walker, _"Can you come over to the Manor? There's a bit of a situation with the two lovebirds." _She assumed that the lovebirds were Brian and Meredith, because that's the direction that Meredith had been going when she ran.

Running after Julia, she yelled, "Juls! Wait up! I need a ride to the Manor!" She managed to get to the car before she pulled out, and hopped in, panting.

As soon as she shut the door, Julia backed out swiftly, and sped down the road. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"Well, apparently there's a situation with the 'lovebirds' who I can only assume are Brian and Meredith, because, honestly, who else is going to have problems tonight?" Lauren answered. When Julia pulled up in the driveway, Lauren hopped out before she could stop the car all the way and ran to the front door. Not bothering to knock, she barged into the house. "Would somebody mind explaining what the hell is going on here?" she demanded to the crowd of people in the living room.

When she didn't get an answer, she tapped her foot impatiently. "Guys? Do you even know I'm here?" when she didn't receive an answer, she yelled, "GUYS!" everyone looked at her, "What the hell is going on?"

Julia came in behind Lauren right when she yelled at them. "That's a good question. We only got cryptic texts about it being urgent and at the Manor, oh yeah, and something about lovebirds."

Joey took a deep, kind of shaky breath, "Well, umm, we're not entirely sure what happened, Meredith won't talk, but she and Brian were outside doing God knows what, but she came in for some reason, and Brian didn't follow her. No one noticed until like 5 minutes after she came, when Moses pointed it out, and Mere looked outside, and I don't know what she saw, but she started screaming and running towards where we assume Brian was, and Walker caught her, I think he saw what happened, too, but he hasn't said anything either, and then we saw a white van driving away, and no sign of Brian."

"Actually," a still drunk Joe Moses said, "His blood stains are on the sidewalk."

Lauren gasped, "Where's Wox and Mere?" she asked, noticing neither were in the room.

"They're in the den, they needed to get away from the talking," Denise said, walking around the corner to the den. "When are the police coming?" she asked the room.

"You called the police already?" Julia asked, almost sounding impressed.

"Yeah, that was the first thing we did," Joey said, "Then we called Dare, he's gonna try to get out here as soon as possible, but it might not be until next weekend, he has to film for Glee."

"Understandable," Julia said. She went through the list of everyone else they should call, "How about his parents?"

"Mere's the only one who has their number, and she won't let go of her phone, I don't know what she's expecting," Joey supplied again.

The window lit up red and blue, and the realization that sirens had been sounding finally came to the group. Julia and Nick went to the door to let the police in, and the rest of the group sat in an uncomfortable silence.

A knock sounded throughout the silent house, and Julia opened the door, Nick standing behind her,  
"Hello, Officer."

"A Nick Lang called and said that a Mr. Brian Holden had been kidnapped," the Officer stated bluntly.

Nick spoke up, "Yes, sir, I did. And yes, sir, he was."

"Are there any witnesses?"

"Yes, there are two witnesses, as well as several of us who saw the van driving away," Nick answered. He had decided that Joe and Meredith were the only true witnesses, but they, of course were not talking.

"Can I speak to the witnesses?"

"Yes, sir, right this way," Nick said, leading him towards the den. "May I warn you that neither of them have spoken since they saw what happened, save Mere screaming Brian's name."

The Officer sighed deeply, "Well, son, that might be an issue in the long run."

"I know, sir, but if you would still help us-"

"Yes, we will still help you, even though it will be much more difficult without eyewitnesses," the Officer cut Nick off.

Nick stopped at the den, and motioned the Officer inside. He stepped in after the Officer and sat down in the arm chair that the Officer wasn't in.

"What are their names?"

"Meredith and Joe."

"She going out with Brian?" at Nick's confused look, he chuckled, and went on, "You said she just screamed his name when she saw what happened to him."

"Well, it's all a bit complicated at the moment, I think, but I'm pretty sure that they are or will, but she's the one who saw him last. They were sitting outside when she came in without him, when he hadn't come in after a while, most of us were already at the door with her, and she went to get him. Whatever she saw made her run, screaming towards him, and Joe went after her to keep her from getting there because he saw what was happening too and didn't want her to get involved," Nick explained.

Joe sat up, looking like he wanted to say something, and Nick nodded encouragingly. Joe took a deep breath, "Officer, it was awful, what they were doing to him, I've never seen anything like it, not even in movies or TV shows. And then when they were done with that, they threw him into the back of the van and drove off."

"What were they doing to him? And who are they?" the officer asked.

"They were torturing him, I really don't want to go into details, I don't want to remember it."

"Son, I must insist you tell me what they were doing," the Officer said impatiently.

Joe shook his head. The Officer groaned, "You being difficult is not helping this, son!"

"Look, if he doesn't want to tell you because it's too damn painful for _him _then you sure as hell better respect that!" Lauren finally burst out, she had been watching for a while, and the Officer had finally gotten the better of her patience. Joe looked at her thankfully, and she continued, "And if he doesn't want to talk about it, then there is no way in hell that you are going to even try to get Meredith to talk about it, understand?"

The Officer looked a little shocked, no girl that size had ever shown that much attitude towards him before. He blinked a couple times before answering, "And why should I listen to you?"

"Because I know him better than anyone, and Meredith is one of my best friends, and if Joe can't talk about it, Meredith will not be able to, especially not about Brian," she said fiercely.

Julia nodded at the officer from the wall she was leaning on, "It's true, Mere won't be able to talk about it, and you're going to have to be understanding of that."

The Officer rolled his eyes, "Ok, so we don't find out what happened to him, where do you think they took him?"

Lauren sighed, getting impatient, "How the hell are we supposed to know? We're not criminal masterminds!"

The Officer sighed impatiently, "Did you at least get the fucking license plate number?"

Joe nodded, "Yeah, I got that, lemme write it down for you." He took a pen and paper and quickly scribbled the number down, and handed it to the Officer.

"And you're sure this is it?" the Officer asked skeptically.

"Yup, photographic memory," Joe shrugged.

The Officer finally took the paper, and looked at it, "We'll get as many officers and cameras on this as we can, I promise."

_3 Months Later_

In the three months since Brian had been gone, the morale of the Starkids had plummeted drastically. Lauren didn't prank people anymore, Joe didn't have a reason to smile at Lauren's antics, Jaime sang only sad ballads and break up songs, and Darren was being threatened to be fired from Glee if he wasn't able to fight though the depression to be Blaine.

And then there was Meredith. For the first two weeks after the kidnapping, she hadn't spoken a word. She had started talking again, but it was in minimal amounts. Occasionally, she would call Brian just to see if someone would pick up, but they never did. Most of her time was spent in her room, she wasn't nannying Bella and Sebastian anymore. Their parents understood, and would let her start again whenever she was able to.

Meanwhile, the fandom was in a panic. They had been told what had happened a few days later by a video that they made. All of the fandom was on the lookout for a van with the license plate number that they had been told. There was still no sign of Brian.

The police had closed the case ages ago, but if new evidence surfaced they were willing to reopen it.

The Starkids didn't have much hope anymore; nobody really knew what to do without Brian.

One day, Joe was driving to work, and he saw the license plate number he had long ago memorized. Immediately, he whipped out his phone and called the police, telling the now familiar Captain where he was and where the van was going.

He followed the van, still giving directions to the police, and pulled over when the van did. Soon, he saw police cars pulling up behind his truck. The man got out of his van, unaware of the police force gathering behind him, and walked into the warehouse.

Joe got out of his truck, and found the Police Captain, and told him everything that he knew at the moment. The Captain barked out orders, and the police force assembled, preparing to go into the building.

* * *

**I feel like that was a really shitty ending, and I'm sorry. I'll try to update soon, I promise!**

**Hugs and Butterfly Kisses,**

**Sarah**


	7. Running

**A/N Hey guys! I'm back sooner than expected! Yay! I'm home from vacation, and we don't have internet at the moment, so what do I do when I don't have internet? Beg to go to Barnes and Noble and write! So I got this chapter done sooner then I thought I would. I'm not even sorry for this chapter. **

* * *

Joe was forced to stay outside while all of the police went in the building; the police said civilians weren't allowed on raids. He called work and told them that he probably wouldn't be in today, and then he called Lauren.

She picked up on the fourth ring. "What?" she asked groggily.

"Hello to you, too," Joe attempted to joke.

"Oh, hey Joe," she grumbled. "Why the hell are you calling me at this ungodly hour?"

Joe shifted his weight to one foot, "Well, um, funny story, I might have found Brian."

"What?" Lauren said, her voice instantly brightening.

"Yeah, on my way to work, I saw the license plate we've been looking for, called the police, and it turns out they were already scanning the building that the van went to because of suspicious activities going on around it, so all they needed was an excuse to raid it. They're inside right now, they wouldn't let me come in because I'm a civilian," he said hurriedly.

"That's great!" Lauren exclaimed, "I'm gonna tell Mere!"

Joe quickly interrupted her, "No, don't, I think it should be a surprise. It's almost her birthday, and think that he should just like show up at the party."

"Joe, that's brilliant!"

"You sound shocked," Joe said, smirking.

"How long did it take you to come up with that?" Lauren went on, ignoring the last comment.

"I've been out here for an hour, thinking of how to tell Meredith, and that came to mind a couple minutes ago," he admitted.

"It's still brilliant! It'll make the party. Can I at least tell Juls?" she asked, pouting, she hated keeping secrets.

"Yes, you can tell Juls," Joe said, smiling his first true smile in 3 months.

777

Lauren bounced out of her room, and sprinted into Julia's. "Juuulllsss!" she squealed, jumping on top of her friend.

Julia sat up, hitting her smaller friend with a pillow, "What has you in such a good mood?" she grumbled.

"Joe called mee!" she said, bouncing up and down on her knees.

Julia blinked, and laid back down. "That's what you wanted to tell me? He calls you almost every day!" she moaned.

Lauren continued bouncing, "But he had some good news! And I mean really good news!" She forced Julia to sit up again.

"Unless it's anything to do with Brian, or maybe even Darren coming home, it can wait for another couple hours," she grumbled, trying to lie back down.

Lauren bounced even faster, "But it does! He thinks that they've found Briiiaaan!" she yelled.

Julia sat up, truly awake now, "Really?"

"Yeah! But we can't tell Meredith yet, he's gonna surprise her at her birthday party in a couple of days!" she added the last part in a stage whisper.

"And he told you why? You can't keep a secret to save your life!" Julia asked.

"I dunno, but I'm exciiited!" she squealed.

777

Darren was woken up by his phone ringing loudly in his ear "You're the One That I Want", his ringtone for Julia when he wasn't in Chicago when she couldn't hear it. "Juls? What do you want? It's like 6 in the morning!" he said, looking at the clock, then realized what time it was, "Holy shit! My call time was half an hour ago!"

"I can talk to you later, if you want, but it's really important," Julia said uncertainly.

Darren weighed the options, either she could call after work when he would be exhausted and his brain wouldn't be functioning properly, or he could talk to her now and put her on speaker phone so he could get ready. "Talk to me," he said, knowing it sounded rude, "Sorry, please talk to me? I'm sorry, I'm tired and in a hurry, but I really do want to talk to you."

"It's fine, Dar," she sighed, "I understand."

"Thanks Juls," he said gratefully, beginning to get ready.

"Ok, so Joe thinks that they might have found Brian," Julia began.

"What? That's great!" Darren exclaimed, all thoughts of getting ready gone from his mind.

"Yeah, it is, everyone except Mere and Joey know now, and we're not gonna tell Mere until her birthday party this weekend when he's gonna show up at it," she continued excitedly.

"But what if he's not able to be there? Or if he's, you know," Darren said, his pessimistic side showing.

"We are not thinking like that, alright?" Julia said sternly.

"Ok, listen, I gotta go, I'm running late, but I'll call you at lunch, ok?" Darren said, he was leaving his trailer and walking into the studio.

"Alright, have fun!" Julia said, smiling, Darren was always late.

"Will do!" Darren said, hanging up with a broad smile.

Dianna walked past him, "Was that Julia?" she asked.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Darren asked, flabbergasted.

Dianna smiled knowingly, "You have a Julia smile, but this one is huge!"

"Yeah, well this would be the Julia smile combined with a 'the police have just found my missing friend smile,'" he said, his smile growing again.

"Really? They found him?" she answered, smiling, she knew how worried Darren was, as well as how guilty he was that he couldn't be with his friends during this hard time.

"Yup!" he said, bouncing towards makeup, "See ya later!"

777

Joe had been sitting in his truck for two hours when the police finally came out of the building with several people in handcuffs. He looked around for signs of Brian when he saw two police in the back supporting someone between them. Hopping out of his car, he ran towards the Police Chief. "Did you find him? How's he doing? Will he be ok?" he started spewing out questions.

"Yes, son, we found him, and he's not doing wonderfully at this moment, but yes, he will be ok," the man answered patiently. "He's over there," he said jabbing a thumb towards the ambulance.

Joe was over there in a matter of seconds, and asked the first paramedic he saw, "Can I see Brian?" After a few minutes of arguing, the paramedic finally said yes.

Cautiously, he stepped into the back of the ambulance, "Bri?"

Brian sat up, struggling slightly, "Joe?"

Joe crossed the rest of the room, embracing Brian tightly, "We missed ya, buddy."

"Where's Meredith?" Brian asked weakly.

"She's at her house, she doesn't know you've been found yet," Joe answered.

"Her birthday is this week," he said simply.

"How do you know?" Joe asked, as far as he knew, he hadn't had any means to keep track of the date at all.

Brian pulled his sleeve up and showed tally marks, one for each day he had been in captivity. "This," he said with a grimace.

Joe nodded, he was horrified by what they had done to him. "You know she called you nearly every day?" he asked, hoping he caught on to her being Meredith.

This time, it was Brian's turn to nod with a grimace, "They played her messages for me to hear. When can I see her?"

"Her birthday party is in two days. Can you wait until then?" Joe asked, realizing that, even though it would be a perfect present for Meredith, Brian should have a say in it, too.

Brian thought for a moment, closing his eyes. Joe thought he had fallen asleep until he opened his eyes again, and said, "Yes, I can."

* * *

**See, I can be nice! Yay! This wasn't even all that angsty I think!**

**There's only one more chapter after this, and I want to thank everyone who read, reviewed, followed, and favorited! You guys are all amazing! And Pigwidgeon, that last review made me laugh so hard!**

**CLJR, thank you for your concern, I do feel better!**

**Thank you all! I'll put my last chapter up sometime within the next week.**

**Hugs and Butterfly Kisses,**

**Sarah**


	8. Surprises!

**A/N (Warning, this might get very cheesy)**

**Ok guys, this is it, the last chapter of The Stars' Fault. I meant to post it yesterday, but we don't have wifi at home, and I didn't get the chance to go to Barnes and Noble to use their wifi because I had orientation. Although, this is really an awkward place right now because there is a couple in their 60s that keep kissing over and over and over and over and over again right where I can see them. I did try the get a room thing, and it didn't work. **

**Well, back to the main point, this has been one hell of a ride in my opinion. I've learned how I can play with people's emotions, and quite honestly, that thrills me, I love it so much! I do apologize, though, because it's mean sometimes. I'm really sad that this is over, I almost feel like a part of e is gone if you know what I mean. **

**So without further ado, the final installment in The Stars' Fault! **

* * *

Brian was transported to the hospital, and Joe had to go to work, so he did. On the way to work, he called Julia, "Juls, he's alive! He's doing great! He's talking and breathing, and singing, and is perfectly fine with him being a birthday present for Meredith!" he said excitedly when Julia picked up.

"Really? That's great! She's going to be soo excited! I gotta call Darren and tell him that he really needs to get out here for the party!" Julia gushed.

"Sounds good, I'm going to work now," Joe told her.

"Alright, talk to you later! Bye!" Julia said and hung up. Immediately after she hung up, she called Darren.

He picked up on the fifth ring, "Julia?"

"Darren! They found him! He's alive and talking and singing! And you have to get out here for the party!" she said all in one breath.

Darren took her breath as an opportunity to get some words in, "Juls, they're in the middle of a take, I just broke Lea's character!" he said sternly, but with a wide smile, ruining the image.

"Well, tell Lea I'm sorry!" Julia said, "I should probably go, shouldn't I?"

"Yeah, probably, this is kind of an intense scene," Darren said apologetically. "Love you bye!" he said and hung up, then realized he had just told her he loved her.

Julia didn't put the phone down after Darren hung up, taking in the words he had just said. "What do you mean by that? Love me like a friend? Love me romantically? Darren?" she said into the phone, knowing she would get no answer.

All the way across the country, Darren was doing the same thing. His phone was at his ear, and he was muttering to himself, "What did I just do? Did I just screw up my friendship up with her? What if she doesn't love me back?"

Dianna noticed his dilemma, and came up next to him, "Dare-bear, I don't think you screwed it up, I'm pretty sure she loves you too."

"I hope you're right," he muttered.

777

Two days later everyone was gathered at Meredith's for her birthday party. The mood was bleak, everyone was acting like they still had no idea what had happened to Brian. Darren burst in 15 minutes late, yelling something along the lines of, "Sorry I'm late! My plane got delayed!"

Julia walked up to him, smiling, "How is it that every plane you take gets delayed?"

"Luck? I don't know," he said, smiling broadly. In a whisper, he added, "I picked up Bri, he's outside."

Julia nodded, "Alright, present time should start soon; he'll be the last one."

The party continued for another 15 minutes in the bleak mood that it had started with when Julia announced that it was present time. Meredith walked over to the spot of honor in the middle of the couch, looking almost like a zombie. She opened her presents up, thanking everyone, but not actually looking pleased. Finally, there was only one envelope left.

Darren picked it up and handed it to her, "Mere, this is from Brian."

Meredith looked at him, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "What kind of sick joke is that? He can't give me a present if we don't know where he is!" she yelled at the room, who were all looking at her guiltily.

Julia stood next to Darren, "Mere, he picked this out months ago, before umm, that happened."

Meredith looked at her reproachfully. "He was thinking about my birthday _that long _before my birthday? That doesn't sound like him! I think you're just trying to make me feel better by pretending he gave me a really thoughtful birthday gift, and I'll tell you what, it's not working!" she yelled at Julia.

Julia blinked, looking really hurt. Darren put his arm around Julia. "Mere, just open it, please," he begged.

Finally, Meredith took the envelope, and after glaring at everyone in the room, opened it. She pulled out a single piece of paper from the envelope, which was folded into thirds. Carefully opening it, she saw two words in Brian's scrawl.

"Look Up."

She looked up, looking directly at the door, and stood up. Leaning on the doorframe, smiling softly, was Brian. Crossing the room, she whispered, "Brian?" When he nodded, she launched herself into his arms, tears streaming down her face. He stroked her hair, mumbling something in her ear about he had missed her.

The rest of the group looked on, smiling. They had been looking forward to this reunion for months, Meredith wasn't whole without Brian. Finally, the two broke apart, but kept holding hands tightly. It looked as if they were afraid that if they let go, they would get separated again.

Lauren announced, "Cake time!" and bounced into the kitchen. Everyone else followed, with Meredith and Brian bringing up the back. Meredith smiled when she walked in, and the group screamed, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" and started signing at the top of their lungs their special birthday song. Meredith laughed, and blew her candles out.

"What did you wish for?" Joey and Lauren asked at the exact same time.

Meredith smiled mischievously, "This." She turned around and kissed Brian fiercely, which he happily returned.

There was a chorus of "Eews!" and several wolf whistles, as well as someone yelling, "Leave room for Jesus!" provided by the group of friends.

Joe turned to Lauren, "While there's so much love in the air," he said, and crashed his lips into hers. Lauren giggled, and kissed him back.

Jaime nudged Joey, pointing at Lauren and Joe, and he raised his eyebrow as a question. In response, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.

Darren looked around, and shrugged at Julia, leaning in and kissing her. Pretty soon the kitchen was filled with kissing couples. Matt and Nick stood at the edge of the kitchen laughing at the scene around them, especially Brant and JoMo stage kissing and Jim doing the whole pretending to kiss someone by putting his arms around his back thing.

Suddenly, the door crashed open, revealing several members of the Glee cast. Their "Surprise!" was cut short when they noticed the scene around them. "What the hell is going on here?" Chris Colfer shouted. By this point, Matt and Nick were doubled over laughing. All of the kissing couples had broken apart, startled, and looked at Darren.

"Oh yeah, I brought some of my other friends," he said, stating the obvious. Darren started introducing everyone, finally he introduced the last two people, "This is Chris, my on-screen boyfriend, and this is Julia, my real-life girlfriend."

Julia and Chris looked at each other and cracked up for no apparent reason. The two groups of people started talking to each other, all thoughts of the cake gone. And no one noticed that Meredith and Brian had snuck off to the bedroom.

* * *

**Well, thank you all! Especially those of you who have been here since the beginning. I'm going to miss seeing your reviews clogging up my email when I update. Thank you for your reviews and your favorites and your story follows. A special shoutout goes to every who followed and favorited me! Thank you so so so much!**

**Hugs and Butterfly kisses,**

**Sarah.**

**(PS. I feel like I've just ended a really long series or something huge that impacted thousands of people, it feels cool.)**


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